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The Higher Education and the Common 

People, 25 

The Faith of the Fathers and the Faith 

of the Future, 50 

Christian Science and Common Sense : 

A Rational Interpretation, 50 

The Loom of Life : A Study of Fate and 

Love, 25 

The Melody of God's Love: A New Piping 

on the Shepherd's Flute, 50 

A Poet and His Songs : Being a Memoir 
of Russell Powell Jacoby and Selec- 
tions from His Writings. Edited by 
O. H (In Press.) 1.50 



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of price, by 

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THE 

JEeloDp of #oti^s ilo\)e; 

A New Piping on the 
Shepherd's Flute 

BEING 

A DEVOTIONAL UNFOLDING OF THE 

TWENTy^-THIRD PSALM 



OLIVER HUCKEL 




BALTlxMORE : 
JOHN S. B|.IDGES & CO. 



\ 



TWO COPZES aECElVE^^ 

Library of QoBgtQiiy 

MAfi6-1900 

Reg!«ter of Copyrtglt% 



Copyright i900. 



StCJND COPY. 



DEDICATION. 

This little book of devotional studies is 
dedicated with loving gratitude to that noble 
company of Christian workers, The Ladies' 
Guild of the Associate Reformed Church of 
Baltimore. For them it was prepared as a 
practical unfolding of their chosen psalm 
and by them it was requested for this wider 
circulation. The title — " The Melody of God' s 
Love " was suggested by their President from 
a similar title to an older exposition, now 
long out of print, on The Melody of the 23rd 
Psalm. And the interpretation owes sug- 
gestions here and there to the noble work of 
Matthew Henry, Pastor C. H. Spurgeon and 
Rev. F. B. Me^^er whose expositions have 
become classic in religious literature. May 
God bless this further attempt to reveal the 
manifold meaning of the wondrous love 
wherewith He has loved us ! 

O. H. 
Baltimore. 



The Melody of God's Love. 



FIRST MELODY. 

The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not 

want. 

He maketh me to lie down in green 

pastures: he leadeth me beside the 

still waters. 

SECOND MELODY. 

He restoreth my soul : he leadeth me 
in the paths of righteousness for his 
name's sake. 

Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod 
and thy staff they comfort me. 

THIRD MELODY. 

Thou preparest a table before me in 
the presence of mine enemies : thou 
anointest my head with oil ; my cup 
runneth over. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall fol- 
low me all the days of my life ; and I 
will dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever. 



FOREWORD. 

Once in the wars of the Middle Ages, a royal 
Prince was taken, and immured in a castle stronghold 
no one knew where. But one who loved him trav- 
elled the country over, playing on a shepherd^ s pipe, 
beneath every castle's windows, the simple air that 
they both used to know in their childhood days. And 
at last at one castle the melody pound its response, 
and a signal was shown, and the Prince was finally 
rescued. 

One who loves you in the love of Christ comes 
playing again on a shepherd's pipe the simple melody 
that we used to love in childhood days. Is there a 
royal spirit captive in the deepest depths of the 
stronghold of your life ? No matter how long the 
years, how strong the world, how gruesome the sin, 
there must be a response to the m,agic air of the 
melody of God's love. It has oftentimes cheered the 
captives, soothed the suffering, comforted the dying. 
It has oftentimes stormed the castle of selfishness, 
opened the dungeons of sin, and brought forth the 
royal captive, and made him free again, a royal 
Prince in the love and power of a royal God. 



FIRST MELODY. 



A Song of the S'weet and Pleasant 
Experiences of Life* 



We do not know at what time in 
his Hfe David wrote this psalm. It 
has all the freshness of the shepherd 
boy's heart in it, and all the wisdom 
of the aged king. 

This is how we may imagine he 
wrote it. 

It was in his palace in the great 
banqueting hall. The guests were 
gone and King David was sitting 
alone in meditation. He went into 
a reverie of the past, even into his 



1 2 The Melody of God's Love 

boyhood's life. He longed again for 
the sweet water of Bethlehem's well, 
and for all the simple pleasures of his 
shepherd life and the companionship 
of his sheep that once seemed to him 
as friends in his love. 

And as he meditated on all the 
course of his life and all God's 
goodness that had brought him to 
greatness — God's gentleness that had 
made him great, — suddenly the 
thought came and leaped into melody 
on his lips — The Lord, the Lord is 
my shepherd. 

O, those days of green pastures 
and still waters, with all God's 
shepherding goodness and love ! 

But as he thinks further of his 
life, he remembers that great sin of 
his life and is sad, but again he 
remembers God's forgiving goodness 



The Melody of God's Love 1 3 

and he sings : He restoreth my soul. 

He thinks of the hardships, the 
right but stern paths travelled in his 
devious life, but God guided him in 
all, for His name's sake. 

He thinks of the dark places, even 
the death valley ; God was still with 
him. 

And now, — and now as he looks 
around on his radiant palace walls 
and banqueting house, he realizes 
that we are more than under God's 
care as a flock. God has made us 
His friends. His own. God's present 
goodness still amazes him and he 
sings : Thou preparest a table for me, 
thou helpest me to triumph over my 
enemies. Thou art good ; my cup 
runneth over. Surely Thy goodness 
and mercy have followed me. I will 
be faithful to Thee forever. 



14 The Melody of God's Love 

In some such way, it might have 
been that the divine song bubbled 
up from the full fountain of David's 
heart. 

And his personal outburst of faith 
and triumph becomes ours, and 
becomes attuned to every life. It 
fits itself into the heart and needs of 
all humanity and becomes a new 
confession of faith and hope and love 
in God. 

So we come to listen to this 
shepherd-music once again. It is a 
royal shepherd music tuned to the 
sweetest strains of earth and heaven. 

We take up the old sweet familiar 
words, but we would see them in 
new lights, hold them in fresh vision, 
study them with the revealings of 
deeper love. 

Have you ever taken a gem set in 



The Melody of God's Love 1 5 

a ring and looked at it in various 
lights and angles to see its new 
flashings of beauty and the hidden 
fountains of its light ? This psalm is 
a priceless gem of purest ray serene. 

Have you taken up a lily or a rose, 
and turned it round and round and 
lifted it in loving closeness to discover 
anew its beauty and its fragrance ? 
This psalm is the fairest flower in the 
garden of the Lord. 

Have you ever stood before a noble 
picture, now on this side, now on 
that, in morning light and evening, 
and dwelt upon it till, like a lover, 
you see new beauty in it unseen to 
others ? This psalm is a picture of 
the King in His beauty and the land 
that is afar off. 

Have you ever listened to a sweet 
song or superb symphony till it 



1 6 The Melody of God's Love 

became a part of your life, and each 
time you heard it, it grew more 
sweet, and melted your heart and 
lifted your soul as on wings toward 
heaven ? This sweet psalm is a min- 
strel song from the heart of God. It 
comes singing itself into the world 
like a harmony of heaven. It sings 
new faith and hope and love into the 
sad heart of the world. 

The psalm seems to divide itself 
into three melodies of two verses each. 

The first is the beautiful strain that 
we may call ** In Green Pastures," a 
song of the sweet and pleasant 
experiences of life. The second 
melody is a more heroic strain, 
'^ Through the Valley of the Shadow,'* 
a song of the hard and deep and 
sorrowful experiences of life. The 
third melody is the wondrous tri- 



The Melody of God' s Love 1 7 

umphant strain, '' In the House of 
the Lord Forever," a song of the 
exultant and heavenly experiences of 
life. 

And indeed can we not see in 
these three melodies, the Song of 
Life? First the life of faith ''In 
Green Pastures ;" secondly, the life 
of hope, even ''Through the Valley 
of the Shadow;" thirdly, the life of 
love "In the House of the Lord 
Forever ;" — faith, hope and love, but 
the greatest of these is love, for God 
is love. 

And the deep melody brings this 
23rd psalm, this sweetest song of the 
Old Testament, into unison w^ith the 
most heavenly hymns of the New 
Testament, that matchless thirteenth 
of first Corinthians, — " And now 
abideth faith, hope, love ; but the 
greatest of these is love." 



1 8 The Melody of God's Love 

So let us listen to the psalm in 
these three melodies, and listen as 
King David sings to us the first 
melody, ** In Green Pastures," a song 
of the sweet and pleasant experiences 
of life. These are the words : 
The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not 

want. 
Lie maketh me to lie down in green 

pastures : 
LLe leadeth me beside the still waters. 

Once on a time David, I doubt 
not, played the shepherd's pipe among 
his flocks under the shade of the 
trees. It is an ideal instrument for 
a pastoral life, so handy, so natural, 
so sweet. 

But also, as we know, he played 
the rustic harp, — the harp often 
twined with flowers. This was what 
he used in order to charm away 



The Melody of God' s Love 19 

the madness from King Saul, and 
this also became the royal harp of 
his later minstrelsy. 

Perhaps as his heart sang this new 
shepherd song of divine memories, 
his hand softly caressed the strings 
of his kingly harp and made an 
accompaniment low and tender. 

Those hands were stilled three cen- 
turies ago, the harp has crumbled to 
dust in the oblivious ages, but how 
the melody has lingered, the soul of 
music, in these marvellous words. 

Listen ! It sings in the soul, — The 
Lord is my Shepherd. 

There comes the picture of an 
Eastern hillside and a shepherd 
among his sheep ; such a picture 
as we sometimes see among the hills 
and glades of our Druid Hill. Beau- 
tiful picture always, so quiet, tender, 



20 The Melody of God' s Love 

loving. The Eastern shepherd, as 
many have noticed, comes into loving 
companionship with his sheep. So 
long and lone are his vigils with 
them. He calls them by name. His 
affection goes out to them. They 
become his life and care and affec- 
tion and all his thought. They are 
in his hands. He would protect 
them with his life. He thinks and 
plans for them, leads them, calls 
them, folds them at evening. They 
are like a family around him. The 
ewe lamb feeds at his table. It is 
an exquisite pastoral picture. 

And so also in this intimate and 
charming way, the Lord is our shep- 
herd. 

The Lord has a tender shepherd 
love. He is wise and strong and 
careful like a loving shepherd. His 



The Melody of God's Love 2 1 

infinitely loving heart outpours its 
love upon us in daily care and 
nightly watch. He that keepeth us 
doth not slumber nor sleep. The 
Lord it is, — our Father. He who 
reveals himself to us in the blessed 
Saviour. He who is realized in us 
by the blessed Spirit. For our 
Father, the God of all the world, the 
Creator of the ends of the earth. He 
is our Protector, our Guide, our 
Shepherd. 

But the sweet relation is even 
more personal. Shepherd of all the 
rolling spheres is he, shepherd of all 
the multitudes of earth ; but best of 
all, He is my Shepherd, mine own, 
my very own. 

And we are His own. His very 
own. He says to each of us : I have 
called thee by thy name, thou art 
mine. 



22 The Melody of God's Love 

We can each say : He is my 
Shepherd, caring for and guiding 
my life. 

We can each feel that our Shep- 
herd serves us out of real love to us, 
as a mother serves the babe that is 
her own, her heart's love. 

We can emphasize this personal 
relation more and more with increas- 
ing pleasure and gladness. It means 
so much. The child is dead, says 
the stranger. My child is dead, says 
the weeping mother, with her heart 
breaking. The Lord is a shepherd, 
says an onlooker in religious things. 
The Lord is my Shepherd, exclaims 
with joy the heart that has found 
him. Jesus is a Saviour, says one 
who has heard the testimonies. But 
there is all the difference in the world 
between that and the personal claim 



The Melody of God' s Love 23 

and joyful assurance, Jesus is my 
Saviour. Let us rejoice constantly 
in the infinite joy of the personal 
assurance, the Lord is my Shepherd. 

The Lord is my Shepherd, / shall 
not want, runs the melody. I shall 
not want. 

There is a good promise of God — 
Blessed are they that hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, for they 
shall be filled. We may thank God 
for all spiritual hunger within us, for 
He has abundant provision to meet 
it and satisfy it. 

I shall not want. It is a blessed 
assurance of God's bountiful pro- 
vision. God is abundant and super- 
abundant in all His gifts to the world. 
He floods the earth with light ; He 
fills the world with beauty; He crowds 
the universe with life in myriad man- 



24 The Melody of God's Love 

ifestations. He is prodigal in all His 
gifts — in the joys of life and the 
things of the spirit. I shall not want. 
It is also a blessed assurance of God's 
perpetual providence. He careth for 
us. He will see that our lives are 
not famished for affection, nor our 
souls starved for lack of spiritual 
things. More willing is He than 
any earthly father. Nothing will He 
withhold. With the best gift of His 
love, freely will He give us all 
things. 

I shall not want. Many things I 
may wish which I cannot have, be- 
cause His love sees that they are not 
best for me. But all that is needful 
will He give. 

We worry sometimes over the 
future, oftener over material things 
than spiritual. What has the future 



The Melody of God' s Love 25 

for us, will old age bring sickness 
and poverty, will those we love come 
at last to destitution ? Are the right- 
eous sometimes brought to penury ? 
what can I expect who am full of 
sins ? But let us claim the blessed 
assurance, — The Lord is my shep- 
herd ; I shall not want. God will 
take care of me. Let us cast all our 
cares upon Him, for He careth for us. 
My shepherd will provide all that is 
needful for body and for soul. 

He maketh me to lie dow7z in green 
pastures, singeth nobly the psalmist's 
song. He maketh me, — as if there 
w^ere divine compulsions, and there 
are. Sometimes the Lord maketh 
us do His will, by the discipline of 
protracted sickness or enforced idle- 
ness or the balking of plans. He 
maketh for our good. O the blessed 
tryannies of love ! 



26 The Melody of God's Love 

He maketh me to lie down, -for 
rest and peace. And we all need 
these times of quietness before God. 
The body needs its rest of sleep, the 
soul needs its quiet of prayer, the 
whole life needs its day of rest. It 
was divine wisdom that said. Come 
ye apart into a desert place and 
rest awhile. 

He maketh me to lie down in 
green pastures, to enjoy the sweet 
and quiet joys and experiences of 
life, the comfort of home, the rest 
of the loved one's heart, the quiet 
hours of reading and music, the fel- 
lowship of friends. These are the 
blessed joys of this earthly life. 

He leadeth me beside the still 
waterSy— the melody continues. He 
leadeth me as a shepherd goeth before 
his sheep, — He leadeth me into the still 



The Melody of God' s Love 27 

waters of the spiritual joys of life, the 
things of the divine love that come to 
us to refresh life and to transfigure it 
with a tinge and glow of heaven. 
The flowing river in Ezekiel and the 
crystal river in Revelation as well as 
the blessed Master's own words about 
the water of life, tell us of the still 
waters, the deep currents of God's 
own great life, in the midst of human- 
ity. The waters are still with the 
abounding peace of God ; the waters 
are still with the depths of God's love, 
those depths that no plummet can 
ever fathom. 

There may be a still further un- 
folding. For the precious Word of 
God is like green pastures, full of 
freshness, beauty, and nourishment, 
as sweet and fair as at the first. And 
the Lord's Day is full of quiet and 



28 The Melody of God's Love 

rest like the still waters of life with 
the placid hours of worship and soul 
communion. 

But yet further is the unfolding in 
the light of the gospel revelation, for 
in a deep and mystic sense the blessed 
Saviour himself is the green pastures 
and the still waters for the soul's most 
intimate communion. He is the 
bread that cometh down from heaven, 
the soul's best nutriment ; He is the 
water of life that satisfieth thirst 
eternal. 

For in very truth, the loving Sav- 
iour has become fully identified in 
our thought with every note in the 
heavenly melody of this psalm. He 
is not only the green pastures and 
still waters of the soul's peace and 
joy, but He is also the abundant sat- 
isfaction, the abundant life, so that 



The Melody of God' s Love 29 

we shall not want. And above all, He 
is the divine and saving shepherd, for 
so He Himself calls Himself in grac- 
ious words, I am the good Shepherd, 
I know my sheep and am known of 
mine. My sheep hear my voice and 
follow Me. The good Shepherd 
giveth his life for his sheep. 

Shall we not say, Dear Lord, Thou 
art my Shepherd, mine own. Feed me, 
lead me. I am willing, lead me. Give 
me thy peace and thy rest, O Lord. 

Do we ever wander away from 
our Shepherd, the loving Saviour. 
Do we ever lag behind ? Do we 
come always when He calls ? Do 
we love Him as we should ? — He 
gave His life for us. Do we rest in 
His love and wait patiently for Him ? 

The thought of resting in God is 
uppermost in this first melody of the 



30 The Melody of God's Love 

psalm. It is our privilege and duty. 
We rest as we take God at His word 
and trust Him ; as we cast all our 
cares upon Him ; as our hearts are 
purified by his cleansing spirit. We . 
rest in God simply by surrendering 
our hearts to Him and accepting His 
will for us. We give ourselves and 
all we are and have into God's keep- 
ing and say, Lord, do with me and 
for me as Thou knowest best, for 
Thou lovest best. Then there is 
peace and rest. 

But the thought of the pleasures 
of such a life of divine trust also 
comes out in the melody. God 
wants us not to be distracted by 
trifles, not to be satisfied with noth- 
ings, but to come as He leads into 
the deepest and richest experiences 



The Melody of God's Love 3 1 

of the spiritual life, as the disciple 
John of old knew. God has for 
each of us in this life what eye hath 
not seen nor ear heard, nor heart 
dreamed, — the sweet rest and the 
refreshing joys of the green pastures 
and still waters of His own love. 

This then is the first melody of the 
psalm. The life with God here in 
this world is pleasant. It is shep- 
herded by the eternal love ; it is 
abounding in God's grace ; it gives 
the rest of heart amid the green 
pastures of earth's divinest joys ; it 
leads us away beside the still waters 
of eternal depths and infinite peace. 

Later we shall see what hardships 
mean in the music of this psalm, 
what death means and what is the 
final note of perpetual triumph. But 



32 The Melody of God' s Love 

here at least in this first melody is 
life's sweetness, abundance and peace 
under the tender shepherd love of 
God. 

Can we not take the lesson. We 
are all under-shepherds, a king and 
his subjects, a pastor and his people, 
a mother and her family, a heart and 
its friends — all under-shepherds. Can 
we not get this melody of trust and 
joy singing anew in our souls? It 
will be a new inspiration in all our 
work and a new benediction upon 
our lives. 

Let it sing itself in the heart at the 
break of day like a lark from the 
meadows. And let it break forth 
again in the twilight like a nightin- 
gale in the evening shadows. And 
let it chirp cheerily and warble softly 



The Melody of God' s Love 33 

all day long through the toil and 
troubles of life like a hidden nest of 
song-birds. Let its liquid melody 
make all the life joyous with God's 
overflowing love. 



SECOND MELODY. 



€i)rougt) tl^e Ballep of tl)e 
^Ijatioiu : 

A Song of the Harder and Deeper and 

More Sorro<TvfuI Experiences 

of Life* 



What a multitude of hearts have 
sung this melody of God's love since 
the lips of David first whispered the 
music in loving accents to the world. 

Peasant and prince have sung it, 
children have learned it at their 
mother's knee, the aged have crooned 
it as they fell into their last long 



38 The Melody of God' s Love 

sleep. The widow and the orphan 
have come to it for consolation ; the 
suffering and the sorrowing have 
found balm in its blessed promises. 

For three thousand years it has 
been upon the lips of mankind, 
welling up from the heart of mankind 
as a fountain of praise to the glory 
of His name. The centuries have 
been vocal with it as the favorite 
song of all God's word. 

And yet we never tire of it. 

It is perennially and perpetually 
fresh and sweet. 

The words of the second melody 
of the psalm run — 

He restore th my soul ; He leadeth 
me in the paths of righteousness for 
His name s sake. 

Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will 



The Melody of God' s Love 39 

fear no evil : for Tlioit art with me ; 
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. 

It is a beautiful melody, but it is a 
little more sombre in tone than the 
first. The former sweet song of 
shepherd love and leadings among 
green pastures and beside still waters 
was a tender idyl of pastoral life. 
Here come some sterner and rather 
more heroic notes. 

The very first words of this melody, 
'' He restoreth," are a revelation of 
something wrong. It is a phrase 
with a past. It is an implication of 
many things that have gone before. 
It is a retrospective picture in itself 

He restoreth — was it apostacy of 
soul, was it rebellion of spirit, was it 
weariness or weakness of life ? Some- 
thing was wrong, something unnatural, 
something abnormal. Health or 



40 The Melody of God's Love 

communion was broken, the wish or 
the will was astray. There is a 
heart confession in these words. 

It may be that the heart has been 
down in the depths of despair, not 
lost to God but overwhelmed by 
trouble until the face of God is 
almost obscured. And He restoreth 
unto me the joys of salvation. 

It may be that the soul is lost as a 
wandering sheep, as the one sheep 
gone astray while the ninety and 
nine are safe folded in. And God 
goes seeking with tender compassion 
and infinite patience, and brings it 
back again to the fold and restores it 
to the old love of His great warm 
heart. 

It may be that the life is famishing, 
starving because it is trying to live in 
itself and of itself Perhaps it is 



The Melody of God' s Love 41 

neglecting the means of grace, per- 
haps Hving in known sin, perhaps 
consorting with unwholesome asso- 
ciations, and still thinking to keep in 
spiritual health and grow in grace. 
It is impossible. We cannot feed 
entirely on the world, and still live in 
God. Our better life will die, we 
will piteously starve. We need the 
restoration to His health and love by 
the tears of penitence, and the breath 
of prayer and the bread and wine 
of His love, put to our famished lips. 
O, how eager He is to restore us 
to the joys and health of His love. 
He woos us in a thousand ways. He 
tries to persuade us of His tenderness 
and kindness. And sometimes our 
hearts are melted by the song of a 
bird, the gladness of the sunshine, a 
walk through the woods, the laughter 



42 The Melody of God's Love 

of a child, the hand-grasp of a friend, 
to new thoughts of God. God is 
constantly seeking channels for the 
inflowing of the streams of His 
healing and restoring love. 

'' He restoreth my soul. He lead- 
eth me" — sings the sacred psalm to 
our hearts. 

Two modern hymns have beauti- 
fully taken up the melody *^ He lead- 
eth me, O blessed thought," and 
^^ Lead kindly light amid the encir- 
cling gloom, lead thou me on." 

He leadeth ! It is the Shepherd's 
part. He leadeth and his flock fol- 
loweth after him. 

Do we remember it ? He leadeth ! 
Do we ever try to go faster then He 
leads. O these self wills and impet- 
uous spirits of ours that are sometimes 
impatient with God. 



The Melody of God' s Love 43 

He leadeth. If we cannot feel any 
leadings, let us wait. He will indi- 
cate and show either one step at a 
time or perhaps a great stretch of the 
way. 

Once we were travelling in the 
mountains in a thunder storm. We 
had to press on, for there was no 
shelter. But the way was dark and 
unknown. Sometimes we had to 
stop and wait. Then a lightning flash 
would come and light up a great 
stretch of the road before us. God 
sends his lightning flashes of intuition 
and conviction in all lives. 

But not always the lightning flash, 
sometimes just enough light for a 
few steps. The miner carries his 
little lamp in his hat. It goes with 
him, and lights up a few steps at a 
time. We carry Christ in our hearts 



44 The Melody of God's Love 

and the quiet illumination of his ex- 
ample will always light our way for 
the steps in front of us. 

He leadeth. It is an unseen Mas- 
ter. But we can learn to follow His 
invisible leadings like the birds follow 
their instincts in migration, like the 
tides follow the silent behests of the 
moon, like the curling fire ascends 
upward toward the higher atmos- 
phere of the sun. 

He is an unseen Leader and Guide, 
but His own blessed example we 
know. He has blazed a way through 
the forests of life for us. 

He leadeth me in the paths of 
righteousness — in the right paths, we 
may also put it. The right paths 
may not always be the easy paths. 
That word righteousness implies a 
little of sternness and hardness. Here- 



The Melody of God' s Love 45 

tofore it has been green pastures and 
still waters, but now it may be paths 
that are stony, steep, thorny, through 
mountain jungles, deep glens, heavy 
forests. 

They will be right paths, for God 
wills it. Every day He plans. He 
is interested in everything that con- 
cerns us. All our interests are in 
God's hand, and God's hand in all 
the interests of our lives. 

We may not understand the ways 
in which He leads us. It may not 
seem to us necessary or wise. It may 
seem hard, severe, cruel, unjust. It 
may seem dark and mysterious. But 
we will learn better in the retrospect 
if we are patient. 

''Sometime, when all life's lessons 

have been learned, 
Then we shall see how all God's 

plans were right ; . . . 
God's plans, like lilies, pure and 

white unfold, 

Time will reveal the chalices of gold." 



46 The Melody of God's Love 

We may not understand all God's 
leadings of our lives, but it is done, 
runs the melody, for His name's sake. 
His nature and His name is love. 
For His love's sake He does it, 
because He loves you, because He 
is love, because these His leadings 
are the honor of love and the wisdom 
of love. In them all He is true to 
you and true to Himself God will 
not deny His nature and name in^ 
His leadings of you. 

But even deeper. The hard and 
stony and thorny paths sometimes 
lead where the shadows are dark 
and heavy. Yea, though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of 
death. 

It is first of all the deep shadows, 
the heavy shadows of life, that are 
meant by the psalmist. But it means 



The Melody of God's Love 47 

also the last and final valley of the 
darkest shadow of all. 

But primarily the picture is not of 
death. It is primarily the picture 
of a dark mountain gorge through 
which the shepherd leads his sheep. 
Such a gorge some of us knew in 
Switzerland, near the Lake of Lu- 
cerne at Kussnacht — that dark gorge 
where legend has it that William Tell 
shot the tyrant Gessler. It is deep 
and dark, overhung with frowning 
banks, rough, thorny vines and thick 
trees that meet overhead. It is 
gloomy there even at midday. It is 
heavy with the shadows at dusk. It 
is impenetrable blackness at night. 

There are many dark valleys in 
life. The valleys of spiritual depres- 
sion, of discouragement and despair, 
of loneliness, of disappointment and 



48 The Melody of God's Love 

tears of sorrow. These must be 
passed through oftentimes ere we 
reach the final valley. 

And that valley is darkest of all, 
loneliest and coldest. The valley of 
the shadow of death. Death is the 
monstrous angel whose gloomy wings 
overshadow it all. It is the valley 
of pain, of partings, of struggle, of 
unutterable loneliness. 

We must die alone and be judged 
alone. No one can be vicarious for 
us in these stern and solemn realities. 

But this is only one side of the 
picture. Even though I come down 
to this dark valley^ we may sing with 
the psalmst, / will fear no evil for 
Thou art with me ! 

We do not die alone, after all, for 
we can look up and say to our loving 
Father, Thou art with me. 



The Melody of God's Love 49 

He is with us and the angels of his 
presence are with us to carry us to 
the paradise of His love. 

He is with us and this gives the 
death-valley an entirely new aspect 
and significance. 

It is said that in Damascus there 
has been for centuries, a long, dark 
secret passage that goes from the 
common street, and one who enters 
there passes through dampness and 
darkness, but suddenly he issues 
forth into the sunlight in the beauty 
and the glory of the inner court of 
an Oriental palace. This is the 
meaning of death. A dark passage 
that leads to great light and beauty 
in the palace of the King. 

Some of us know such a similar 
tunnel near the Lakes of Killarney, 
in Ireland. It is hard travelling in 



50 The Melody of God' s Love 

a desolate country for many miles to 
the Magillicuddy Reeks. Then the 
coach enters a long mountain tunnel 
and as it comes out, it is a revelation 
of beauty. A magnificent prospect 
flashes before, the eye, — lakes and 
islands and forests that seem like a 
paradise of God. 

Death is only a shadow on life. It 
is not an end, but an incident. The 
death valley only leads to the portals 
of a larger and more glorious life. 

We remember as we think of the 
valley of the shadow, all those whom 
we have loved long since and lost 
awhile. We thank God for the bene- 
diction that their sweet memory is upon 
our lives, as fragrance in the heart, 
as refreshing water to the soul, as 
heavenly hands laid in blessing upon 
our brows. 



TJie Melody of God' s Love 5 i 

God was with them in the valley 
of the shadow and the silence. Their 
heads were pillowed upon His love. 
They trusted Him and were not 
afraid. 

And they have taught us how to be- 
have and be trustful. Even the valley 
of the shadow has the glimmering of 
light in it, for their memory illumines 
it and makes it not altogether a lonely 
or an unknown place. 

And they have led us on past the 
shadows to the heaven-side. The 
great beyond is no longer vague and 
void to us. It is warm and bright and 
joyous to us in anticipation, for they 
are there. We bless God that the 
valley of the shadow leads to glory, to 
all the wonderful visions of the Delec- 
table Mountains, and beyond that to 
our Father's Home, our Home, for 



52 The Melody of God' s Love 

some of our loved ones are already 
there. 

There is something very significant 
here. Have you noticed it? The 
psalmist all along has been speaking 
of God. He is my shepherd ; He 
leadeth me. But when he comes to 
the thought of the death-valley, his 
feelings become more personal and 
he says Thou. Not, For He is with 
me, but, For Thou art with me. 
There is a secret here. God does 
become nearer to us, God becomes 
more and more personal to us through 
trouble and sorrow. When all is 
prosperous, we talk about God ; when 
death draws nigh, we talk to Him. 

Though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, / will fear no 
evil. 



The Melody of God's Love 5 3 

What a relief it is to get rid of 
fear. Some live with the sword of 
Damocles constantly hanging over 
their heads. They fear this and they 
fear that. Fear is constantly fretting 
their lives. It is learning the most 
splendid philosophy of life when we 
learn to take God at His word, trust 
Him and banish fear. Perfect love 
casteth out fear. Fear hath torment. 
But God can rid us of it in all the 
petty trials of life and even in the last 
great trial, so that we can face even 
death without fear or foreboding. 
There is the promise, '' Thou wilt 
keep him in perfect peace whose 
mind is stayed on Thee, because he 
trusteth in Thee." 

For Thou art with me — that is the 
end of fear. If God is with us. 



54 The Melody of God' s Love 

nothing can harm us in life or death. 
For He is Lord of both. 

Thy rod arid Thy staff they comfort 
me. It is the shepherd's care and 
love again. For the rod was to 
protect the sheep from wolves and 
robbers, and the staff, the shepherd's 
crook, to guide the flock. It is 
God's protection and guidance that is 
portrayed. God is with me to the 
last, — His guarding and His guiding 
love follow me to the very end. 

Would that God might give us to 
sing this melody continually — ''I 
will fear no evil, for Thou art with 
me." 

We need this note in our hearts 
in all the daily work of life and in all 
the hard places of life — '' I will fear 
no evil, for Thou art with me." 

We need the conquest of fear, we 



Tlie Melody of God's Love 5 5 

need the consciousness of the pres- 
ence of God. 

We whistle as we pass through a 
dark woods. Let us sing this song 
of cheer and confidence as we pass 
through the gloomy places of life. 

For Thou art with me, For Thou 
art with me. This is the blessed 
keynote of this second melody and 
of the whole psalm. 

And we can say — '' I would rather 
w^alk in the dark with God than walk 
alone in the light." 

This very day as I was meditating 
on this melody of the Valley of the 
Shadow there came to me as a legacy 
from Philadelphia, from a dear friend 
just recently in Heaven, a large pic- 
ture handsomely framed called '' The 
Deathbed of John Wesley." It is a 
sad picture and yet a most beautiful 



56 The Melody of God' s Love 

one. The aged saint seems haloed 
with a circle of light, a heavenly 
smile is upon his face and the group 
of ministers and friends around him 
look at him lovingly and listen for 
his last words as he walks through 
the valley of the shadow and nears 
the end. It is an intensely interest- 
ing picture to me. It is the trans- 
figuration of death by the shining of 
a heavenly glory. And I can almost 
hear him say as I look at the picture 
those last words of his, — '^ The best 
of all is — God is with us." He had 
caught the music of David's psalm. 
Thou art with me. I will fear no 
evil, for Thou art with me. 

The Alpine shepherds have a beau- 
tiful custom of ending the day by 
singing a refrain to each other. The 
air is so crystalline clear that the song 



The Melody of God's Love 57 

will carry long distances. As dusk 
begins to fall, they gather their flocks 
and begin to lead them down the 
mountain paths singing : '' Hitherto 
hath the Lord led us. Let us praise 
His name." And at last with a sweet 
courtesy, they sing to each other the 
words, Gute Nacht, Good Night, 
Good Night ! And the words are 
taken up by the echoes and from 
side to side the song goes reverber- 
ating sweetly and softly until the 
sounds die away in the distance. 

When the shadows fall about us at 
last and the night comes creeping 
in the valley, may this blessed mel- 
ody of God's love still sing in our 
hearts, — '^ I will fear no evil ; for 
Thou art with me," and God will an- 
swer, Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end. 



THIRD MELODY. 



S^n tl)e i^ou^e of tf^t Slorti 
5f oreijer : 

-A *Sbn^ of the Exultant and Triumphant 

and Hea'venty Experiences of Life 

Here and Hereafter* 



^ 



It will be suggestive to us to recall 
the way in which we were supposing 
that this sweet psalm may have been 
written. We thought that King 
David may have been sitting in his 
banqueting hall, in his palace, in the 
evening. The guests were gone. 
The lamps dimly burning. And 



62 The Melody of God' s Love 

he was in reminiscent mood. He 
thrummed on his harp, which he 
always had near him and he sang the 
snatches of melody that came to his 
heart. He remembered his boyhood 
days around the well of Bethlehem and 
on the hillsides with the sheep. He 
remembered his varied life, and how 
God had cared for him and he sang, 
as he remembered his own shepherd 
love and care, and as the thanksgiving 
brimmed from his heart, The Lord is 
my Shepherd. He has cared for me 
as I cared for my sheep. He has 
been with me in green pastures and 
even in the valley of the shadow. 

But in his thought the folding of 
the sheep is done, evening has come, 
and now the shepherd king strikes a 
new note, perhaps suggested by his 
own banqueting-hall where he is sit- 



The Melody of God' s Love 63 

ting. It is a note, a vision of higher 
communion : 

Tlioii preparest a table before me 
i7i the p7'esence of mine eiiemies : Tlioit 
anointed my head zvitli oil ; my cup 
runneth over. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall 
folloui me all the days of my life ; arid 
I will dwell i7i the House of tlie Lord 
fo7'ever. 

There is a sweetness, a surety, 
an exultant confidence in this final 
melody that is contagious with all 
gladness and thanksgiving. 

TIiou preparest a table before me. 
We are more than the sheep of the 
Good Shepherd ; we are friends of 
God. The Lord is our host, we 
are His guests ; and all life is the 
banqueting table of the Lord. 

It is a table of bounties. There is 



64 The Melody of God's Love 

refreshment for the eyes in all the 
beauty of Nature and life ; there is 
refreshment for the ear in the sweet 
sounds of Nature, the voices of 
friends, and in the symphonies that 
man creates in noble harmonies ; 
there is refreshment for the mouth 
in the luscious fruits ; there is 
refreshment for the brain in noble 
thoughts and high converse ; there 
is refreshment for the body in '' tired 
nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep"; 
there is refreshment for the heart in 
the loves of kindred and friends ; 
there is refreshment for the soul in 
the visions of truth and the gracious 
opportunities of beautiful service for 
God. 

It is a table of bounties, of food 
convenient for the whole life ; a 
banquet spread by the love of the 
Father ; angel's food, new every 
morning, fresh every evening. 

The sacrament of the Lord's Table 



The Melody of God's Love 65 

is symbolical of the everlasting 
banquet of God's love, the bread 
of goodness, the wine of love forever. 
The sacrament of Nature is per- 
petually the Lord's Table to eyes 
that have vision, where love in 
continual sacrifice is day by day 
redeeming all things to the heavenly 
life. 

Thou preparest — God beautifully 
anticipates our needs. Before we 
speak, He answers. As Hager and 
Ishmael faint in the desert, His 
anticipatory love bubbles forth in a 
refreshing spring of water from the 
sands. 

Thou preparest a table before me 
in the presence of mine enemies. 
Every life is beleagured with ene- 
mies, foes within and foes without. 
Sloth, doubt, selfishness attempt 



66 The Melody of God' s Love 

to waste the life, but God reveals His 
goodness and inspires us. Poverty 
and disease and bereavement seem 
as enemies to starve the life, but God 
spreads the banquet of His love in 
their very presence, and we learn 
^'to suffer and grow strong." His 
gentleness hath made us great. He 
has brought us into His banqueting 
house, and His banner over us is 
love. 

Thou anointest my head with oil. 
It is God's royal welcome to us ; it 
is the glad salutation that goes with 
the word of greeting and the kiss of 
peace. It is an Oriental token of love. 
The blessed Master knew it and loved 
it in His day. It is the fragrance of 
friendship. 

The Lord rejoices to have us as 
His guests at the banqueting table of 



The Melody of God' s Love 67 

life. He takes pleasure in us. He 
welcomes us into life. The mother's 
kiss at birth and God's kiss at 
death, — they are welcomes into life 
and life eternal. 

My cup nuineth over. — The cup is 
the brimming chalice of the varied 
experiences of life. Hold up your 
cup and look at it ! What are the 
experiences ? What does your life, 
'^ heaven's consummate cup," hold as 
its most precious distillation ? Joys 
are sparkling there, happiness bub- 
bling, but tears also and the dregs of 
sorrow. 

Once I drank a brimming goblet 
of the wine of tears, and in the last 
and bitter dregs, I found a pearl. 
There are blessings in sorrows. 

The Master found His cup full of 
anguish unutterable. The agony of 



68 The Melody of God's Love 

the Garden was confessed in those 
whispered words — '^Father, let this 
cup pass. Nevertheless, . . , . Not 
as I will, but Thy will be done." 

It was a cup of mingled drink. His 
cup was running over, but running 
over with shame, bitterness, torture ; 
dashed with ingratitude and scorn ; 
stained with blood ; darkened with 
death. 

This was the cup of the eternal 
Oblation offered once for all. 

But our cups, — the bitterest is 
sweet in comparison. He drank the 
bitterness for us. And now our cups 
are largely cups of happiness, — the 
myriad joys that God has given us, — 
the sweetness of life, the beauty of 
Nature, the comradeship of friends, 
the love of kindred and children, the 
joyousness of thought and worship. 



The Melody of God' s Love 69 

Oftentimes on a radiant morning 
when all things seem worth while 
and life worth living, does not your 
cup of happiness, even yours, seem 
sweet and full, overflowing w^ith 
God's goodness ? 

My cup ritnnetJi over, — that is 
God's way. 

He gives us more than we deserve, 
more than we can hold. As children 
make holes in the sand, and wait to 
see the incoming tide fill them, and 
it does, filling them full, full to over- 
flowing, with a royal and limitless 
abundance, so God's love fills the 
cup of our lives. The sparkling wine 
of life is the vintage of God's love. 

We have abundance enough to 
overflow and bless others. Our 
hearts need never be arid ; our faith 
merely watering our own garden. God 



70 The Melody fo God's Love 

gives us an abundant life. And the 
more we pour on the hearts of 
others, the more will our own lives 
feel His inexhaustible goodness. 

But now we come to another 
word : Surely — sings the sweet 
singer with exultation, — and we may 
expect a burst of rapturous faith. 
Surely — for God's promises cannot 
fail. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall fol- 
low me. Here is the courageous and 
confident confession. He cries : I 
follow the Lord, and as I follow, I 
am followed, for goodness and mercy, 
God's twin angels, follow me as a 
heavenly escort and retinue; '* good- 
ness to supply every want, mercy to 
forgive every sin." Goodness and 
mercy — daughters of God with His 
own features in their sweet mystic 



Tlie Melody of God' s Love 7 i 

faces, and His own dear love looking 
out of their tender eyes. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall 
follov/ me all the days of my life — 
Who knows what the days shall be, 
for none can lift the veil of the future ? 
Some will be bright with a great joy, 
some troubled and weary with disap- 
pointments and suffering, some dark 
with death. But in them all — in 
summer's thirst, and winter's cold, 
and springtime restlessness, and au- 
tumn dreariness — in all the days of 
my life God and His angels shall be- 
set me behind and before to put new 
blessing upon my life. 

And I zuill dzuell in the lions e of the 
Lord forever, — runs the royal mel- 
ody. 

I will dwell — where we dwell is 
home. What a sweet word is 



72 The Melody of God's Love 

''home," the dwelHng place of love. 
The old homestead has its peculiar 
and tender associations in our hearts, 
but it is not home if all the loved 
ones are gone. Home is where our 
loved ones are. Home here is 
promise of heaven there. 

This life is often likened to an inn 
in which we lodge for a day and a 
night on the road to eternity, and so 
it is. Our dwelling place is not 
here. The true dwelling place, the 
true home of the soul, is told in the 
secret of the psalmist, O Lord, 
Thou hast been our dwelling place 
in all generations. 

God is the home 
To which we come 
When death has passed 
To life at last. 

I will dwell in the house of the 
Lord — it is Heaven, yes, but it is 



The Melody of God' s Love 73 

more than Heaven. It is all life and 
all the universe where God is. God 
is Heaven. 

Your own house and home may 
be a house of the Lord. Your 
business house is to be not merely a 
house of merchandise but a house of 
the Lord. Your church is a house of 
the Lord. The whole earth with its 
templed woods and bending heavens 
is a house of the Lord. If God be 
with us, we never go out from the 
house of the Lord. 

Said the Master — In my Father's 
House are many mansions. Yes, 
but they are all mansions of His 
love. Life is full of mansions of 
imagination ; death is full of mansions 
of reality. Should every star in 
God's heaven be a mansion, all are 
mansions of His eternal love. For 



74 The Melody of God' s Love 

they are in our Father's House — our 
Father's It is a family gathered 
there, — the whole family in heaven 
and on earth, — all joy and gladness, 
no pain or parting, the cup filled to 
overflowing with love in the Paradise 
of God. 

And I will dwell in the house of 
the \^or A forever. Forever and sure- 
ly, — these are the two great bell-like 
notes of this melody, — surely and 
forever. 

Certainty and permanence, — surely 
and forever! Forever — it is the 
music of eternity, but it has its refrain 
in the time of this world. It can 
begin now. A foretaste of Heaven 
is possible in this world to those who 
follow the Gleam. They that dwell 
in the secret place of the Most High 
shall abide under the glorious shadow 



The Melody of God' s Love 75 

of the Almighty. Heaven is dwelHng 
in God's love now and forever. 

It is a life of conquest and tri- 
umphant joy when we enter into the 
peace and strength of the practice of 
the presence of God. It is triumph 
over the pettiness and vanities of life, 
for it is entering into larger and 
nobler things. It is conquest over 
sin for the higher life seems so much 
easier and more worthy. It is victory 
over death, for we come into the 
perpetual realization that life and 
death are both alike to God, His 
servants for bringing us into newness 
of love. 

The joys of the spiritual life in this 
world are the finest and most exultant 
experiences. The sweet communion 
with the divine, the thrill of the 
spirit, the ecstasy of deep devotion. 



76 The Melody of God's Love 

But the surprises of eternity will be 
the new capacities and the new reve- 
lations. We shall learn what fulness 
of joy means, and the infinite pleas- 
ures which are at His right hand 
forevermore. 

What a note concerning immortal 
permanence is struck in this supreme 
outburst of the minstrel heart of 
David. Life is so fickle, transitory, 
shifting. We want a stay for the 
soul. We want foundations that will 
not shift with the sands. Here it is. 
We can dwell in the house of the 
Lord, in God's very presence, now, 
daily and hourly, forever. 

** I know not where His islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air, 

I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His love and care." 

We have sung again in this devo- 
tional way the melody of God's love. 



The Melody of God' s Love yj 

It is a song of life, — a song of 
faith, walking with the Shepherd ; a 
song of hope even in the shadows of 
death ; a song of love in the perpetual 
banquet-house of God forever. 

It sings a triple melody, — In Green 
Pastures, a song of the sweet and 
pleasant experiences of life ; Through 
the Valley of the Shadow, a song of 
the hard and dark and sorrowful 
experiences of life ; and In the House 
of the Lord Forever, a song of the 
exultant and triumphant and heaven- 
ly experiences of life in this world 
and the world to come. 

It brings to us more and more 
sweetly the music of the Gospel for 
the heart, and the loving voice of our 
own Good Shepherd. 

We thank God for this psalm — 
sweetest in sentiment, most melodi- 



78 The Melody of God' s Love 

ous in music, most uplifting in its 
pure and exultant faith among all the 
psalms. 

'' The Twenty-third Psalm," as one 
has nobly said, *Ms the nightingale 
among the psalms. It is small and 
of homely feather, singing shyly out 
of obscurity ; but oh ! it has filled the 
air of the whole world with melodious 
joy greater than the heart can con- 
ceive. Blessed be the day on which 
that psalm was born." 

We have sung again with David the 
melody of God's love. It has brought 
back to us, perchance, some of the 
forgotten music and memories of our 
own lives. The story is told of Ole 
Bull that once in New York City he 
sought out his fellow-countryman the 
inventor Ericsson to mend a certain 
part of his violin for him. Ericsson 



The Melody of God' s Love 79 

was glad to do the mending, but told 
him frankly that he had not been to 
any of his concerts, that he did not 
enjoy music, and the violin least of all, 
and never would. A few days later 
Ole Bull called for his intrument and 
before he took it away played a few 
bars to see that all was right. It was 
only a simple melody, — a Norwegian 
folk song, — but Ole Bull saw that 
Ericsson was interested and listening. 
And he played on. He played a 
shepherd's song and Ericsson said, 
'' Why, that's our hillside among the 
sheep." And he played the purling 
music of the rills and Ericsson felt 
it, and the tears came to his eyes, 
as he said, '' I can hear the brooks 
in the forest in the springtime." 
And Ole Bull played on, — the vintage 
festival songs, and the marriage 
hymns, and the funeral dirges, and 



8o The Melody of God' s Love 

the majestic chorales of the church 
worship. And as Ole Bull played 
on in his wonderful way, for he was 
a master of music, Ericsson sat 
there and cried like a child, for it 
brought back to him all his boyhood 
days and his dear old home and his 
mother and friends. He forgot it 
was music ; it seemed a revelation. 

This ancient psalm of God's love 
has a divine genius in it. It sings 
deeply to our own hearts. It tells us 
of our own forgotten lives. It stirs 
the depths of our noblest devotion. 
It lifts us to new heights of exultant 
faith. May it sing in our hearts 
forever ; may it bring us perpetually 
into tune with the infinite ; may it 
raise our hearts constantly above the 
troubles and discords of life, and may 
it fill all our thoughts and words 
and deeds day by day with the very 
melody of God's eternal love. 



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